JERUSALEM, Aug 9: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, under US pressure to cool down his government's settlement drive, has shelved plans to build more than 1,000 new homes in the West Bank, settler sources and reports said on Monday.
Israeli public radio reported Mr Sharon had refused a request by the housing ministry to give the final green light for 1,300 homes in four of the largest settlements after completing preparatory ground work for the construction and obtaining the necessary authorization from the defence ministry.
The houses would have been built in Maale Adumin, Ariel, Kiryat Arba and Beitar Elite. While there was no confirmation from Mr Sharon's office, leaders of the settler movement confirmed that a freeze had been imposed.
Josh Hasten, a spokesman for the Yesha Council of Settlers, said that the movement was confident that the freeze would be merely temporary and said that there could be no arguments over the need for the new housing.
"This could be a temporary setback," he said. "Our communities are growing and thriving. We do not think there should be any delays (to accommodate) natural growth. There's always a need as there's always a demand."
According to the Haaretz daily, the freeze is only temporary and is designed to ensure that all building work is within the municipal boundaries of the settlements and does not breach agreements between the Americans and Israelis.
It affects plans revealed in the last week for hundreds of new homes in Maale Adumin, the largest of all the settlements, as well as in Ariel which lies some 20 kilometres on the eastern side of the internationally recognized boundary between Israel and the West Bank.
Under the terms of the US-backed roadmap, Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement activity, although Israeli officials have argued that this does not rule out natural growth in existing settlements.
The US State Department told Israel last week that "the roadmap calls for an end to all settlement activities, including natural growth", a point taken up by visiting White House envoy Elliott Abrams in talks with Mr Sharon last week.
The Palestinians have been incensed by the prospect of the construction work. Negotiations minister Saeb Erakat said on Monday that the construction would "destroy the efforts exerted to restore the peace process to its normal track".
"We contacted the quartet members yesterday and demanded them to interfere to abrogate this decision," he added in reference to the four chief sponsors of the roadmap. The roadmap was endorsed by both sides last year but has made next to no progress since amid mutual recriminations over settlement activity and continuing anti-Israeli attacks by Palestinian militant groups.
US President George Bush has said that it would be "unrealistic" for Israel to withdraw completely from the West Bank, but he has also been given assurances that Israel will not expand existing settlements.
Mr Sharon has made clear that he wants to annex settlements such as Maale Adumin, which is just outside Jerusalem, in the framework of a larger disengagement plan that will see Israel pull troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip.
EGYPT'S ROLE: Official media in Egypt, which is playing a key mediating role in the Gaza pullout in order to prevent any lapse into chaos on its doorstep, reported on Monday that Cairo is to start training 45 Palestinian police officials next month.
The Al Ahram daily said the Palestinian Authority had been invited to submit a 45-man list for the programme. Egypt and Israel have struck an "agreement in principle" for Egyptian border guards rather than police to monitor the Rafah border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip after the pullout, it said.
In Rafah itself, medical sources reported that two Palestinians were seriously wounded during an Israeli army incursion, including a 14-year-old boy who was shot in the head. -AFP